Bruce Almighty

Introduction

Greet and Endear

It’s so good to be at south campus once again.

We are doing an “AT THE MOVIES” Series

I have kind of cheated here and picked one of the best movies of all time “Bruce Almighty”.

Now I need to add a disclaimer - this sermon series obviously does not condone everything that happens in the movies. Morgan Freeman is not God, God does not bestow His powers to people. We’re just taking BIBLICAL principles we can learn from movies.

How many people here have watched Bruce Almighty?

Giving away your age

Bruce Almighty is about a frustrated TV reporter named Bruce (played by Jim Carey) who his a slump in his life and after a series of mishaps he complains that God isn’t doing His job properly.

In response to this - God (Morgan Freeman) appears and grants Bruce all of His divine powers. Challenging him to do a better job at managing the world.

It’s a brilliant story about free will, human nature - and God’s grace, which is the angle that I will be taking it from today.

But for now - let’s pray and I’ll get the team to load up the first scene to play!

Segment 1: Bruce Receives His Powers

[Play segment 1: 35.57-40.55]

We see in this scene that Bruce receives his powers and IMMEDIATELY sets to use doing things that would directly benefit his life - not all of them entirely savoury.

Notice that at the beginning of the scene God takes Bruce’s prayer beads - a representation of his dependence on God. Bruce is now left to his own devices, he is free to use his powers however he wants to.

The moment we lose our dependence on God - is when begin to lose sight of what our free will is actually for.

The thing is - the bible actually gives us rules to govern our free will too. Galatians 5:13

Galatians 5:13 (ESV)

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Paul is acknowleding here that there indeed is a draw, an opening to use our free will to indulge the flesh. Something that Bruce does effective immediately.

The scary thing about this scene is that God granting bruce powers - is an exploration of the ultimate usage of free will. Like what would we do if we were granted God’s powers? I think the genuine answer is probably a lot less noble than some of us may think of ourselves.

He explodes a firehydrant, lifts a woman’s skirt, steals some clothes, pulls a monkey out of someone’s butt, and commits murder by bees for all we know, and then shoves a monkey back up someone’s butt

What’s the lesson in all this? While we may not have Bruce’s divine abilities to fantastically abuse free will - we are still very capable of abusing it in our own way.

We get to choose - if we want to use our free will to indulge ourselves by holding on to grudges, taking revenge, abusing our sexual freedom, taking things at the expense of others etc.

This scene sets the stage for a powerful lesson - Free will does not mean no consequences.

Just because we are free to do whatever we want - does not mean that we get to live without the consequences of our actions.

Just as Bruce is going to find out in this next scene.

Segment 2: Bruce cheats on grace

[Play segment 2: 1.03.25-1.07.09]

When free will is used for our own pleasure and purposes - this becomes the inevitable outcome; we effectively cheat on the Grace that God has given us. Just as Bruce here cheats on Grace.

Romans 5:20–6:2 (ESV)

20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

In this passage Paul talks about grace increasing to cover our sin as it increases.

And even as he says that, he knows that people will think that they can just do whatever they want with Free Will now because Grace has given us the pardon that we need. The more we sin, the more pardon we receive.

This tends to be a prevailing mindset among Christians - whether conscious or not

And in this movie - up until this point, Bruce’s abuse of powers steadily increases and increases, and Grace goes along with it, despite being not fully on board until this climactic moment right here.

This moment - where Bruce cheats on Grace is Paul’s point in this passage when he says in vs 2. “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

What we have to realise is that grace can be given to us Christians to cover our sin - because we are still inherently battling with our fallen nature.

BUT to be a Christian is to realise that our nature has changed now - we are DEAD to sin. We are no longer under its power, the free will we have been given is to serve God - and our new nature in Christ DESIRES to do that.

Paul puts it this way from v21 - as long as we are using our free will to sin then it is death that we are living in, and we are abusing our relationship with Grace. Only when we use our free will to live holy lives does Grace reign, and covers whatever sin may remain.

A Christian is not saved in spite of Grace, we are saved BY of it.

Too many Christians live lives and use their free will for their own selfish purposes - sin freely, use their free will to explore their own pleasure and happiness - grace just becomes a secondary thing, “it’s a happy coincidence we have grace to cover up our sin or we’d be in trouble!”

But Grace is not some secondary factor in our salvation that just serves to cover our sins up. Grace is THE active agent in salvation - without Grace, salvation becomes impossible.

Bruce begins to realise this after he cheats on Grace and loses her - he realises that he used his powers and free will to serve only himself.

Let’s go to the final clip - where he realises just how much he needs grace.

Segment 3: Bruce Repents

[Play segment 3: 1.23.44-1.30.45]

Such a beautiful scene

A few key things happen here - firstly Bruce realises that Grace has been carrying him through this entire time with her prayers. And he sees firsthand the effect that his selfish living has had on her. So he chooses - in his conversation with God to “release” her. Such a pivotal moment where he puts Grace first, her needs, her requirements, he surrenders those things to God.

And this marks an important moment in the life of any Christian. Where we cease using grace as a reason to sin, and realise the real significance of Grace in our lives - we sense the weight of grace, we feel the live saving and live changing effects of it.

You may have noticed the bag of blood in the hospital scene - that’s a significant image, because that’s Grace’s blood. She literally saves Bruce’s life.

Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Do you, as a Christian understand the weight of that gift? Have we grasped that significance? Or has that slipped us by?

Perhaps the most important point to take away from this movie is that the revelation of Grace in our lives needs to invoke in us a life-changing response.

We simply cannot live the way that we want to anymore. We cannot use our free will to pursue our pleasures, we can’t use our free will to sin.

To do so as a Christian is an open abuse of the grace that we have been given.

The message is simple for today - have we had that moment yet, church? Do we realise the weight of grace in our lives? Do we understand how important, how significant, how immense grace is? Are we filled with an immeasurable gratitude?

If our answer is ever no - then, like Bruce - may we all pray for revelation from God so that we can truly appreciate what Grace is to us.

Altar Call

Create a moment for everyone - just to seek a revelation from God about the grace He’s given us.